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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Surname Saturday - Thompson

THOMPSON/ THOMSON

Thompson's Island, Boston, Massachusetts

David Thompson (1592 – 1628) is a favorite ancestor because of
all the terrific adventure stories about him in early New Hampshire
History. But he is also a favorite
because his wife, Amyes Colle, is related to me two ways. The first way is through her
marriage with Thompson in 1613 because I descend from their son, Miles Thompson my ancestor. The second way I am related to Amyes Colle is that her second marriage was to Samuel Maverick, son of my other ancestor John Maverick (1578 –
1636). Yes, it is a tangled genealogy! Amyes Colle is thought to be the first white woman permanently settled in New Hampshire.

It is hard to summarize David Thompson in a short blog
post. He was an agent of Sir Ferndinando
Gorges, and he first visited New Hampshire in 1616. By 1621 he had established a trading post at
Odiorne Point on the New Hampshire seacoast.
It was the first year round station, although the coast had been visited
in the summer for many years. I blogged
about Odiorne Point at this link: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/surname-saturday-odiorne.html
with some photos of the early settlement sites. Thompson’s fort was known as Pannaway, and
he had a fur trading business with the Indians as well as a salt cod fishing
enterprise for the fishermen working out at the Isles of Shoals. The exact location of Fort Pannaway is unknown
since the area was disturbed for the construction of both Route 1 and Fort
Dearborn during World War II.

An early sea captain, Christopher Leavitt, visited Pannaway in the summer and fall of 1623 and describes David Thompson as a scholar who entertained visitors and strangers with graciousness and hospitality.

He also had a station in Boston Harbor now known as Thompson’s
Island, where he removed from Pannaway around 1626. This island is now the Thompson Island
Outward Bound Education Center, and part of the Boston Harbor Islands National
Recreation Area. This is where David Thompson disappeared in
1628. His widow married Samuel Maverick,
who lived on Maverick’s Island, another island in Boston Harbor that is now
located under filled land for Logan Airport.
There is a monument to David Thomson at the cemetery in Odiorne Point,
New Hampshire.

Many people have written about David Thompson over the
years, from Edward Winslow and William Bradford of the Mayflower, to Charles W. Brewster the 1800’s
newspaper columnist in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to present day
historians. There are many tales of his adventures, and
my personal favorite is one where Miles Standish appeared at Pannaway to beg
for salt cod in 1623 to keep the Pilgrims at Plymouth alive. It was the cause of the second day of
Thanksgiving at the Plymouth colony! See the link below for more on this story...

Thompson/Thomson Genealogy

Generation 1. David
Thompson, born 1592, son of Richard Thompson and Florence Cromlen of
Clarkenwell, England, and he is presumed to have drowned or disappeared off
Thompson’s Island in Boston harbor in December 1628; married on 18 July 1613 in
St. Andrew’s, Plymouth, Devonshire, England to Amyes Colle, daughter of William
Colle and Agnes Bryant. She was born
about 1592 and died in 1649 in Massachusetts, and was married second to Samuel
Maverick, brother to my 10 x great grandfather, Moses Maverick (1578 – 1636). Five children:

1. Ann
Thompson, died young

2. Priscilla
Thompson, born before 1616, died about 1635

3. John
Thompson, born 5 January 1619 in Plymouth, England; married Sarah Woodman

4. Ann
Thompson, died young

5. Miles
Thompson (see below)

Generation
2: Miles Thompson was born about 1626 in
New Hampshire and died before 30 June 1708 in Berwick, Maine; married about
1652 to Anne Tetherly, daughter of William Tetherley and Christian Thorne. She was born about 1632 and died after 1717
in Berwick. Seven children:

1. Ann
Thompson, married Israel Hodson

2.
Bartholomew Thompson, died unmarried

3. Mary
Thompson, born about 1659 and married Thomas Rhodes

4. John
Thompson, (see below)

5. Sarah
Thompson, married James Goodwin

6. Amy
Thompson, married Daniel Goodwin

7. Thomas
Thompson, married Sarah Furbush

Generation 3: Thomas
Thompson, born about 1662, died about 1702; married about 1683 to Sarah Emery, daughter
of James Emery and Elizabeth Unknown.
Three children.

1. Mercy
Thompson, married Philip Stackpole

2. Elizabeth
Thompson, married Mainwaring Hilton

3. John
Thompson (see below)

Generation 4. John
Thompson, born about 1684 in Kittery, Maine, died about 1753; married on 22
June 1709 to Mary Stacy, daughter of William Stacy and Mehitable Weymouth. She was born on 6 April 1690 in South
Berwick, Maine and died 13 January 1753 in Kittery. Three children:

1. John
Thompson, born 10 November 1711, married Mary Unknown

2. Mary
Thompson (see below)

3. Noah
Thompson, born 15 March 1713 in Berwick, married Susannah Place

A book about David Thompson is First Yankee: David Thomson 1592-
1628, by Ralph E. and Matthew R. Thompson, originally printed in 1979,
reprinted by the Piscataqua Pioneers. There are sketches of David Thomson in the Great
Migration Begins, Volume III, pages 1807-1809, and in the New England
Historic Genealogical Society Register,
Volume 9, pages 110 – 116. You can find
sketches of the Pannaway settlement in any good New Hampshire history.

Just curious...Have you changed your thoughts at all about who David Thomson's parents are? It seems there are two schools of thought, with some folks believing he has a Scottish heritage. I haven't seen original documents, just summaries on the internet, and it seems that there may be a good case for the Corstorphine connection, too? I'd be interested in learning your thoughts about this.

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About Me

Author of the Nutfield Genealogy blog. My family research includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, with a smattering of Nova Scotia. Please contact me if you see your ancestors on this blog. I would love to share information. I am the recording secretary of the New Hampshire Mayflower Society, President of the Londonderry Historical Society, member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Mass. Society of Genealogists, The National Genealogical Society, and the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists.